Introduction
At its core, competition law is about protecting the competitive process to ultimately ensure desirable outcomes for society – economic growth, fair competition, no exploitation, consumer welfare. Within this framework, competition authorities have mainly focussed on impacts on the consumer-facing side of markets when assessing mergers, or exploitative and collusive behaviour. However, competition authorities are increasingly re-focussing on different parts of the puzzle - labour market issues being one such angle.
At the EU level, Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has given clear indications that the European Commission is not just looking to investigate traditional cartels but also anti-competitive conduct in labour markets such as wage-fixing or no-poach agreements.[1] Member State competition authorities have already taken enforcement action in relation to labour market infringements.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has highlighted in its Annual Plan for 2023 - 2024 that enforcement action in labour market issues is an area of focus. The CMA has also issued guidance to employers on anti-competitive collusion in employment matters (as covered in our previous Competition & Regulatory newsletter.
This briefing reflects on these trends, discusses where EU and UK competition authorities are going next when it comes to labour market issues and sets out some practical tips to mitigate risk.
How do competition laws come into play here?
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